


Birthday Surprise

by ericsonclan



Series: Ericson's Diner AU [22]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Best Friends, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26343529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Louis decides to throw a surprise party for Violet one day before her birthday.
Relationships: Louis & Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: Ericson's Diner AU [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688374
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Birthday Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> (by Linnea)

Louis had been planning for this day for months now. He knew that if he wanted to spend a day celebrating Violet’s birthday, it was better to do it on the day before. He didn’t want to step on Prisha’s toes since he knew that Violet would probably be spending most of her actual birthday with Prisha. So he was going to surprise her and celebrate one of his best friend’s birthdays, just the two of them. He double checked to make sure he had everything in his car and that the gift was gently tucked in the back of the car. After he was satisfied with his search, he jumped into the driver’s seat, turning the key in the ignition and setting off to what he was sure would be an awesome day.

Violet was lying on her ratty, old mattress, a true crimes podcast playing on her earbuds while she stared at the ceiling. She didn’t really have any plans for the day. She’d figured she would just listen to the daily podcast and go from there. That’s when she heard a knock come from the front door. Pausing her podcast, she tossed off her earbuds, letting them bounce against her leg as she made her way to the front door. When she did, her eyes widened slightly when she saw Louis standing there with a cup in his hand.

“Vi! I thought I’d surprise you with an early birthday gift!” He held out the cup that Violet was sure was filled with chamomile tea. “Tada!”

“Thanks,” Violet took the cup and took a long sip from it. “But my birthday isn’t until tomorrow.”

“Yep! That’s right!” Louis had a playful smile on his face. “But today we’re going to celebrate it just the two of us!” He shot his hand into his pocket and drew out what was surely the world’s tiniest water gun. “Surprise! I’m here to kidnap you for the special celebration!”

Violet raised an eyebrow and let out a snort. “Whatcha gonna do with that, Lou?” She motioned to the tiny water gun.

“It’s to make sure you come with me.” He held it out dramatically.

“Really? That’s going to convince me?” Violet had a smirk on her face.

“Yep!” Louis’ finger pulled down, causing a small spray of water to hit Violet’s hoodie which immediately soaked up the water with ease.

Violet rolled her eyes but moved back to grab her apartment keys on her mattress as she followed Louis outside her apartment. Louis and Violet walked side by side, having a light-hearted conversation about this and that when they reached the parking lot. Before Violet could move forward to enter the car, she felt Louis’ hand on her shoulder.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Louis tutted his finger. “I can’t let you in there until you put on this.” He held out a black, padded blindfold. 

Violet took it, a small frown pulling on the sides of her lips. “Louis, this looks like a bra.”

“What? No it doesn’t,” Louis shook his head. “Even if it does, that's not what it is. It’s a blindfold. I’ve seen this very version on a ton of reality cooking shows so I know it’s legit.”

Violet looked at it with skepticism then back at Louis. The earnest, hopeful look in his eyes made it clear that whatever he had planned he was really excited about. With a small groan Violet slid on the blindfold and let Louis guide her to the car. After carefully getting into the car and placing the remnants of her tea in one of the holders, Louis got into the car and started it up. He fiddled around with the bluetooth in his car and after a few taps _Girl in Red_ started to play. Violet had a small smile on her face. She should’ve known Louis would think to even have some of her favorite music ready. 

“So,” Violet blindly kicked her feet up on the dash. “How far away is it to this secret location?”

“It’s a secret,” Louis said in a singsong voice. The pure excitement of the surprise was radiating off his body. 

Violet sighed. “Fine,” She’d just have to be patient and hope it wasn’t too far away. Suddenly her nose was hit with the strong, comforting smell of chicken nuggets. “Louis, why does your car smell like chicken nuggets?”

“Secret.” He still had the playful tone in his voice when the car made a sharp turn to the right, causing Violet to swerve to the left. The two talked about random things here and there to pass the time. Every so often Louis would occasionally get overly excited and hint at how amazing the surprise was going to be. It wasn’t long before the car pulled into a spot and Louis took the keys out of the ignition. 

“Give me five minutes, Vi. I’ll be right back.” Louis didn’t wait for a response and closed the door only to open up the back of his car. His footsteps grew farther away and Violet was left to wait in the car. She leaned back in her seat, unsure what her best friend had in store, but she was hoping that she could take the blindfold off soon. After nearly fifteen minutes Louis returned, swinging open Violet’s door.

“Louis, that was way longer than five minutes.”

“True, true, but it will all be worth it.” He gently grabbed Violet’s hand and helped her out of the car.

“Can I take the blindfold off now?” Violet asked as Louis started to guide them to some new location.

“Nope, not yet,” She couldn’t see Louis’ face but she was sure he had a big goofy grin. After a few minutes of walking blindly through what Violet figured was a forest considering how many times Louis told her to step over a twig or a rock, they stopped. Louis’ hand slipped out of Violet’s. “Alright, you can take off the blindfold now.”

Violet immediately tore off the blindfold, her eyes squinting from the sudden change in lighting. It took a minute for them to readjust. There laid before herein the middle of a forest was a big picnic blanket that was covered in dozens upon dozens of chicken nuggets. A cooler stood beside it filled with the makings for Shirley Temples and a present hidden behind it.

“Tada!” Louis jumped in front of Violet’s view, doing jazz hands with a happy smile. 

“Holy shit,” Violet whispered, a faint smile on her face.

“Come on, “Louis jumped down on the blanket and motioned to the spot beside him. “Let’s dig in before it gets cold.”

Violet didn’t need to be told twice. She immediately plopped herself down beside her friend. 

“So, I’ll have you know that there are exactly two hundred chicken nuggets here. With all the dipping sauces you could dream of: ranch, ketchup, buffalo, barbecue... So eat to your heart’s content. Oh, and don’t worry about leftovers.” Louis leaned over and grabbed some plastic containers. “I got that covered. As for drinks,” Louis grabbed the cooler and pulled it onto the picnic blanket, “I thought you’d enjoy some Shirley Temples and…” he dug around in a bag beside him, his tongue sticking out slightly as he rummaged around. A happy smile appeared on his lips when he had successfully found what he was looking for. “Maraschino cherries to top them off.” He placed down a jar. “I got one for our drinks and,” He placed down a second jar filled to the brim with maraschino cherries, “ A second one for you to chug. Prisha brags all the time about how you were able to chug a whole jar of these in no time flat when you two first met.” Louis had a playful smile on his face, “And I don’t mean to say that Prisha was exaggerating, but I want to see if it was really true.”

He slid the jar forward with a smug smile. “And to sweeten the deal, if you do it in under a minute I’ll give you fifty bucks.” Louis held out the bill, tugging on both sides to show its authenticity.   
A confident smirk appeared on Violet’s lips as she pulled forward the jar. “That’ll be easy.” She waited for Louis to prepare his stopwatch on his phone and when he gave the signal Violet tossed aside the lid and started to chug the cherries. Louis watched in frightened awe as the maraschino cherries disappeared at an alarming speed. Within under a minute they were all gone. Violet dropped the empty jar and let out a large burp.

“Holy shit, Vi,” Louis chuckled and handed over the money. “That was impressive.”

“Eh, I guess.” Violet shrugged, pocketing the money before turning her attention to the food in front of her. “Time for chicken nuggets.” Without another word Violet opened the first container and started to dig in. Nugget after nugget disappeared as she and Louis began to talk. Soon the topic turned to favorite past birthday celebrations which brought up some funny memories.

“Remember that time that Marlon, Mitch and I took you to McDonalds and Mitch decided to have an eating contest with you?” Louis leaned forward, dipping a chicken nugget into some ketchup and tossing it in his mouth. “Shoulda known he'd lose when he made it about chicken nuggets. You can really pack those away.”

Violet took a sip from her Shirley Temple with a happy smile. “Mitch ended up losing by a long shot. Man, he was in the bathroom forever. Those chicken nuggets definitely didn’t settle in his stomach.”

Louis laughed loudly. “Nope, he really couldn’t handle it.”

“Then there was that one time you, Marlon and Mitch tried to sneak me out of class on my birthday,” Violet leaned back on her arms, taking a moment to let the food digest in her stomach before going in for round two. “Marlon ended up ripping his pants on a tree branch.” Violet’s soft laughter grew louder as the tale unfolded.

“Yeah, he was holding onto his pants so desperately in hopes they wouldn’t fall while you three snuck over to my car. But hey, you gotta admit it was a pretty fun day at _Chuck E Cheese._ ”

“True,” Violet snagged another chicken nugget. The pair of friends continued to tell stories, recalling both happy and thoughtful birthday moments over the years until Louis suddenly rose to his feet.

“Alright on to the gift,” he strolled over and carefully picked up the present that was beautifully wrapped in birthday wrapping paper. “After you knocked it out of the park with the birthday scrapbook you got me on my birthday, I knew I had to go all out.” Louis handed over the gift. Violet wiped off the excess crumbs from her hands and took the gift, studying it with curiosity. “Just be careful when you open in.”

Violet looked over at Louis who had sat back down. His body swayed back and forth, a nervous excitement on his features. Carefully, her fingers ran under the wrapping and tore off the tape. It didn’t take long for her to fully unwrap it. When she did she was surprised to see a trifold display. Opening up the two sides, her eyes widened when she saw what was displayed on there. Picture after picture covered the display board. It only took a second for Violet to see that they were different pictures of her and Louis over the years. 

At the beginning on the top of the board was pictures of the pair at the school for troubled youth. Louis must’ve snuck these out when he left. One was of them working together on arts and crafts in art class. Violet looked frustrated by her project while Louis held out his art proudly. The next picture was one where Louis had his arm slung around Violet’s shoulder. A small smile was on her lips in the picture while she looked over at Louis who had a huge, happy grin on his face. Violet’s eyes wandered over the board, traveling through the many years. Watching as she and Louis grew older and their friendship grew stronger. Pictures of them hanging out and laughing together were displayed in celebration. It was such a simple yet powerful gift. Violet felt her emotions swell within as she looked at the memories captured in these pictures of her with her best friend.

“So it wasn’t easy tracking down all those pictures, but I hope you like them. I wanted to give you something that shows how important you are to me. Just like your gift that you gave me.” Louis’ voice drew Violet’s attention up to her friend who had a warm smile on his face.

Violet felt tears pricking her eyes. Wordlessly she put aside the gift and wrapped Louis in a hug. Louis immediately returned the gesture. He could tell how much the gift had meant to her. He could feel her happiness and her emotions in that hug. After a few moments, the hug ended and the two friends looked at each other with happy smiles. “Happy birthday, Violet,” Louis shifted his weight and rubbed his hands together. “Now, how about we decimate a couple more of these chicken nuggets and then head out?”

“Sounds good,” Violet sniffled softly and started to dig into the chicken nuggets once more. A warm, content feeling swirled around in her heart as she continued to laugh and talk with Louis.

He really had pulled off the perfect birthday surprise.


End file.
